Progressive Citizens for America

Take a look at the Governor of Indiana. He's less than human. If you are sick or disabled and can't work and your spouse works 40 hours a week making $9.00 an hour you're pretty much screwed. Food stamps? I don't think so because you make too much money.

Several weeks ago, I wrote an article on Examiner.com entitled, "Warrior Transition Battalion: Drug 'em up and shut 'em up" (you can read it here). In summary, my son, Spc. Michael Maxfield, who joined the Army at 17, rolled over a roadside bomb in his wrecker while on a tour in Afghanistan. He sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI), back, neck and spine injuries, and PTSD, with its associated symptoms of anxiety, depression, severe sleep issues, and memory issues. He returned to the U.S. ten months ago and entered the Warrior Transition Battalion (WTB or WTU) at Ft. Bliss in El Paso, Texas. But his brain might have begun to heal, and his PTSD might have begun to resolve, were it not for the callous treatment by the WTB military command, were it not for the medical treatment lacking in skilled specialists, and were it not for the cocktail of powerful, addictive psychiatric medications he's been on during the past ten months (two pages of medications, in fact, including his current cocktail of Zeprexa, Klonopin, Butalbital, Zomig, Trazodone, Lunesta, Melatonin, Baclofen, and Meloxicam, as well as blood pressure meds and a CPAP sleep apnea machine). This young man, who hasn't had a mental blip in his entire life, has just been diagnosed by the military with bipolar disorder, and will no doubt be prescribed additional medication for that. And if he is in fact bipolar, his experiences at the WTB, rife with frustration, anxiety, and stress have, I am convinced, caused his condition. (Watch the video of Douglas Kennedy's reporting on the drugging of our soldiers, focusing on the story of Marine Corporal Andrew White, who died of an overdose.)

Illinois Senator Mark Kirk, at my request, launched a Congressional Inquiry on my son's behalf, the outcome of which is not yet known. But following the publication of my article - after it was published on other sites and, ultimately, made its way to the military command at the WTB - I started getting calls from my son's care team. His 1st Sgt., Rosales, the coordinator of his care, called several times, I got a call from one of his doctors; I was allowed to speak on my son's behalf at his Article 15 hearing (for missing two appointments in ten months, and being late for formation due to over-medication and an inability to rouse himself in the morning). The WTB appeared to warmly welcome me into the "club" of Spc. Maxfield's treatment team, I was assured the door was always open. But as the weeks passed, I realized that my advocacy was simply tolerated, not welcomed, and that the military has largely been shining me on. My input has been met with polite dismissal; my insistence that they treat Spc. Maxfield's inability to function as a medical, not disciplinary, issue has been ignored; the command's approach seems to be punitive, not restorative, and seems to have at its base an attitude of resentment. For example, Sgt. Rosales, prior to the Article 15 hearing, assured me more than once that his punishment for the Article 15 would be counseling; instead, she allowed me to participate in the hearing and then recommended maximum punishment. Her explanation: He was late for the hearing. Spc. Maxfield is appealing the decision. I was fortunate to be able to have a phone consult with a well-renowned Chicago neurologist, rehab specialist and pain management doctor, and after reviewing the list of medications my son is taking he confirmed my suspicions: The medications are not treating a TBI, "they're treating everything and nothing;" the drug cocktail puts him in a fog, "snows" him, rendering him unable to function; one of his medications, Zeprexa, should only be prescribed for those having psychotic episodes, and is actually interfering with cognitive recovery; there are no medications on board to treat PTSD; and there are no medications prescribed to treat what the doctor said is the underlying "culprit" of lack of functionality in brain injuries, attention span issues, which causes lack of motivation, drive and focus, sleep issues, memory issues, and an assortment of behavioral issues that the WTB command wants to inflict discipline for instead of treat. This doctor said that his team could "untie the knots" in my son's brain even at a late stage, and re-train the brain which, when injured, develops bad habits over time. But the clock is ticking on his recovery, as he sits, locked in the WTB, waiting to be medically retired, his condition worsening. The WTB has disregarded my insistence that they treat my son and the other soldiers as broken and damaged, and not disobedient, insubordinate and unwilling. The WTB has ignored the opinion of the Chicago doctor I consulted, a doctor board certified in four specialties, including brain injury and psychiatry, a doctor who consults the military on TBI treatment. My experience with the WTB reveals an attitude bordering on contempt toward these wounded soldiers, and they continue to reject the concept that these soldiers are not unwilling but are incapable of performing at the level they continue to require. Does the military really think that my son and other wounded soldiers prefer to live this way, and that they wouldn't prefer to heal if a healing environment were available? Although there are some medical practitioners at WTB, I'm told, who truly care and do their best, they appear to be in the minority. The WTB command largely circles the wagons; that's their story and they're sticking to it. They refuse to admit they could be wrong. They insist that their medical treatment is consistent with my son's needs and that their disciplinary measures are justified. The 1st Sgt. blamed my son for his heavy medication usage, claiming that he asked for the meds, which he vehemently denied (and even if so, why would a qualified doctor prescribe a medication simply because a patient asked for it)? In fact, Spc. Maxfield has requested that he be taken off some of his medications, but he was told to continue the regimen. The 1st Sgt. has dissembled, failed to listen, and told outright untruths (such as misrepresenting the number of medications he is currently on - when confronted, she offered a weak excuse and cut off contact with me). From my investigation, her conduct is not unusual among the WTB staff. It appears that the honor code in the military has not found its way into some dark corners of the Ft. Bliss WTB. The soldiers at the WTB - particularly those being medically retired and who can no longer be of service to the military - are the soldiers the military seems to have forgotten. They stash them at the WTB, ply them with drugs, provide minimal actual treatment, and treat them with disdain and disrespect. These men and women deserve our best form of compassion, not the level of condemnation they routinely receive from many in the WTB command. From my experience with 1st Sgt. Rosales, it appears that at least some in the WTB actually resent the disabilities and inabilities of these formerly functional soldiers. We, as a nation, engaged the services of these soldiers, and they were wounded in the service of this country. We have an obligation, a requirement, to support them, and the military should be pleased to offer these broken soldiers the best of care, and the best environment possible, so they can heal. Many of these soldiers, like my son, have military histories reflecting grit, strength and determination. Many of them, like my son, who was awarded a Purple Heart, are decorated. And now they're being treated as though they have chosen to be disabled, as though they can control their bodies and minds, as if they choose to function poorly and sleep poorly and stumble through each day with too many drugs on board and without adequate treatment. As my son said, "We're technically part of the big Army, but the big Army doesn't want anything to do with us." Son, for you and your battle buddies, for those of you who were wounded while serving us, you have not been forgotten, and you are not alone. Many of us, such as the CCHR, will continue to press forward to demand that the military grant you the honor and respect you so richly deserve, to provide you the best care and treatment - without reliance on mind-altering drugs - to allow you to fully heal, to make the military realize that what they deem disciplinary issues are in actuality medical issues, to force the WTB command to see that their treatment of you has been nearly as damaging as the injuries that brought you there. And many of us will continue to be a burr under the military's saddle - each and every day - until they begin to listen. June 23, 2013 By: Julie Driscoll

President Obama asks for grassroots help in pressuring Congress!

Daily Kos: Last week, the White House signaled that President Obama would be taking the lame-duck fight with Republicans on ending the Bush tax cuts for the rich to the people. That outlines of that effort are now emerging, as President Obama is planning to take the fight out of Washington, D.C., "traveling the country and leaning on Democratic activist groups to help apply political pressure." And so, top Obama operatives are gaming out ways to squeeze political capital out of the 2012 elections, aiming to affect the lame-duck session in Congress. Obama previewed the strategy in a conference call with activists after the election, saying that a second term that will include some barnstorming across the country. [...] And so, top Obama operatives are gaming out ways to squeeze political capital out of the 2012 elections, aiming to affect the lame-duck session in Congress. Obama previewed the strategy in a conference call with activists after the election, saying that a second term that will include some barnstorming across the country. At a Politico Playbook breakfast, former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina expanded on what the White House plans to do to engage his grassroots operation and supporters, saying, "People just spent five years winning two presidential elections together, now they’re not just walking away." He indicated that the campaign's "Dashboard" social media system could be used to engage Obama supporters to call members of Congress in the fiscal curb negotiations. This is a great opportunity for President Obama's supporters to push for real progressive priorities, and to push the president to take a much harder line on the issues that are most at stake right now. Yes, ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy is critical in these negotiations, but just as critical is taking benefit cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security completely off of the table. Additionally, what President Obama should be fighting for in this lame-duck session includes extending unemployment benefits so there is no disruption in payments and making sure there's adequate, emergency funding for Hurricane Sandy recovery. Those are the immediate priorities Obama's supporters can and should be asking him to fight for, in return for our help in pressuring Congress on the tax fight.

President Calls for Unity!

Benjy Sarlin November 7, 2012, 2:49 AM 4565 CHICAGO, IL President Obama celebrated his re-election with a call for unity, asking voters of all parties to focus on the bonds that bring them together as Americans in light of a bitter and divisive campaign. “We may have battled fiercely, but it’s only because we love this country deeply and we care so strongly about its future,” he said of his opponent, Mitt Romney. He thanked him for his public service and pledged to meet with him in the future to discuss common goals.

The president had been in the campaign trenches so long against Romney that it was almost jarring to hear his new tone, which consciously pivoted to the same uplifting phrases, themes, and issues that animated his 2008 campaign. In doing so, he offered up an implicit acknowledgement that, whether justified or not, the campaign he had fought was more polarizing than the one that preceded it. “I know that political campaigns can sometimes seem small, even silly, and that provides plenty of fodder for the cynics who tell us that politics is nothing more than a contest of egos or the domain of special interests,” he said at one point. Obama was misty-eyed at times and his voice caught a little as he described working across party lines in recent days with Gov. Chris Christie in New Jersey in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Tears flowed as freely as applause among the crowd in the room. He argued that, for all of the faults of American politics, the process was at its heart a celebration of the best in the nation as well as its uglier side. “Democracy in a nation of 300 million can be noisy and messy and complicated,” he said. “We have our own opinions. Each of us has deeply held beliefs. And when we go through tough times, when we make big decisions as a country, it necessarily stirs passions, stirs up controversy.” He continued: “That won’t change after tonight. And it shouldn’t. These arguments we have are a mark of our liberty. And we can never forget that as we speak people in distant nations are risking their lives right now just for a chance to argue.” Obama asked Americans to come together around common goals — economic growth, education, and opportunity — even as they differed on the solution. And, in a hint of political fights to come, he specifically alluded to two very specific issues, climate change and immigration, that many have speculated he would devote renewed focus towards in his second term. Obama said Americans want a country that “isn’t threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet,” language he had avoided through much of his re-election. “We believe in a generous America, in a compassionate America, in a tolerant America — open to the dreams of an immigrant’s daughter who studies in our schools and pledges to our flag,” he said, a reference to the DREAM Act that Republicans blocked in his first term. He concluded with another allusion to the “hope and change” candidate that first captivated the nation in 2004, promising an America moving in “fits and starts” towards progress and unity. “I believe we can seize this future together,” he said, “because we are not as divided as our politics suggest. We’re not as cynical as the pundits believe. We are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions, and we remain more than a collection of red states and blue states, we are and forever will be the United States of America and together with your help and God’s grace we will continue our journey forward and remind the world why it is that we live in the greatest nation on Earth.”

SUPREME COURT AGREES TO RECONSIDER CITIZENS UNITED..

ARE WE FINALLY GOING TO GET THE OPPORTUNITY WE'VE BEEN FIGHTING FOR? As you know my friends this ruling has been a disaster and that is not just my opinion. I believe that even the SCOTUS is aware of this and may realize just how badly it is hurting our country. Let's watch with an open mind~Midge (Newser) – The Supreme Court has agreed to take a case that justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer say will give it a chance to rethink its infamous Citizens United v. FEC decision. The court is being asked to look into a Montana Supreme Court decision stating that its law restricting corporate election spending in state elections is fine, because it "arises from Montana history," UPI reports. Essentially, Montana is arguing that Citizens United only applies to federal laws and elections, not state ones.

Two Montana corporations are asking the court to make a summary judgment to the contrary; their lead counsel argues that otherwise, "free speech will be seriously harmed," because states anywhere could "ban core political speech." But Ginsburg and Breyer earlier wrote that the case "will give the Court an opportunity to consider whether, in light of the huge sums currently deployed to buy candidates' allegiance, Citizens United should continue to hold sway."

_DOW CROSSES 13,000 FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2008. PRESIDENT OBAMA, GREAT JOB!

_Dow crosses 13,000 for first time since 2008! Great work President Obama!

NEW YORK — It came and went in a flash, a number on a board for seconds
at a time, but its symbolic power couldn’t be dismissed.

The
Dow Jones industrial average, powered higher all year by optimism that
the economic recovery is finally for real, crossed 13,000 on Tuesday for
the first time since May 2008.
The last time the Dow occupied such rarefied territory, unemployment
was a healthy 5.4 percent, and Lehman Brothers was a solvent investment
bank. Financial crises happened in other countries, or the history
books.

The milestone Tuesday came about two hours into the
trading day. The Dow was above 13,000 for about 30 seconds, and for
slightly longer at about noon and 1:30 p.m., but couldn’t hold its
gains. It finished up 15.82 points at 12,965.69.

Still, Wall Street took note of the marker.

It was just last summer that the Dow unburdened itself of 2,000 points
in three terrifying weeks. S&P downgraded the United States credit
rating, Washington was fighting over the federal borrowing limit, and
the European debt crisis was raging.

A second recession in the
United States was a real fear. But the economy grew faster every quarter
last year, and gains in the job market have been impressive, including
243,000 jobs added in January alone.

“Essentially over the last
couple of months you’ve taken the two biggest fears off the table, that
Europe is going to melt down and that we’re going to have another
recession here,” said Scott Brown, chief economist for Raymond James.

The tumult of last summer and fall left the Dow as low as 10,655. Its
close Tuesday put it 22 percent above that low. The Dow is less than
1,200 points from an all-time high, a 9 percent rally from here.

A long-awaited deal to cut the debt of Greece and prevent a potentially
catastrophic default on its debt, announced before dawn in Europe after
12 hours of talks, helped the Dow clear 13,000.

Under the
bailout deal, Greece will get €130 billion, or about $172 billion, from
other European nations and the International Monetary Fund. In a
separate deal, it will owe €107 billion less to investors who own its
government bonds.

After months in which the talks crawled along
and vague headlines yanked the market up and down, the conclusion was
almost anticlimactic because the markets were already expecting an
agreement. By Associated Press

Did Health Care Reform Hurt The Private Insurance Part Of Medicare? Apparently Not...

The Obama administration announced Wednesday that the
Medicare Advantage program, which allows seniors to receive health
coverage through a private insurer, is enjoying lower costs and more
customers as a result of the health care reform law.
Medicare Advantage enrollment has risen 10 percent over the last year
while average premiums have fallen by 7 percent, said Health and Human
Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She also pointed out that similar
improvements were seen the previous year.
The figures bolster President Obama’s defense of his signature
achievement, and for Democrats it has the added bonus of refuting
earlier Republican warnings that “Obamacare” would gravely undermine the
choice provisions in Medicare.
“At the time the Affordable Care Act was passed, Republicans in
Congress said the bill would virtually end the Medicare Advantage
program,” declared
senior White House staffer Nancy-Ann DeParle. “Those predictions turned
out to be wrong. Medicare Advantage is stronger than ever — offering
more seniors better benefits, higher quality care and lower costs.”
The basis for this GOP claim during the health care reform debate was
that the ACA’s $500 billion in Medicare provider cuts included $136
billion in pay reductions under Medicare Advantage. But, at least for
now, those cuts — along with other payment reforms — appear to have made
the program more competitive and efficient.
“The new law’s massive Medicare cuts will fall squarely on the backs
of seniors, millions of whom will be forced off their current Medicare
coverage,” House GOP leaders wrote
in their 2010 “Pledge To America” manifesto. Screeds against the
payment reductions were a regular feature of Republican speeches in
Congress during the debate over the law.
The Medicare Advantage program, created in 1997, allows beneficiaries
to opt out of the single-payer plan and instead receive
government-subsidized private insurance at an extra cost to them. About
one in four seniors are currently on it. The basis of the steep ACA cuts
was research that showed Medicare was over-paying the private plans.
Congressional Republicans didn’t ultimately seem too troubled by
health reform’s Medicare cuts: they overwhelmingly voted to retain them
last year as part of the Paul Ryan budget.

__President Obama leading up to the State of the Union on Tuesday night! We have your back!!!

_President Obama will call for “a return to American values” in his
State of the Union address Tuesday as he lays out a vision for an
economy that provides greater equity at a time of growing income
disparities.
In a video message to campaign supporters released Saturday morning, the president said his speech before Congress should be viewed as his blueprint for an “economy that’s built to last.”
Obama cited his speech last month in Osawatomie, Kan.,
where he tried to channel the urgent populism of Theodore Roosevelt a
century ago to cast himself as a champion of the middle class. The State
of the Union address is a bookend to that speech, Obama said, as the
country faces a crossroads.
“We can go in two directions. One is towards less opportunity and
less fairness,” Obama said in the video, which was released by his
reelection campaign. “Or we can fight for where I think we need to go:
building an economy that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few. On
Tuesday night, I’m going to talk about how we’ll get there.”
Obama’s third State of the Union comes as he ramps up for what is
expected to be a difficult reelection campaign. His Republican
presidential challengers have attacked his economic policies, holding
his administration responsible for the slow recovery from the financial
crash.
And GOP members of Congress have successfully blocked much of the
president’s agenda, including most of the provisions of his $447 billion
American Jobs Act. Obama has sought to raise taxes on higher-income
Americans to help pay for new spending proposals aimed at creating jobs,
but Republicans have balked during a time when the nation’s deficit is
growing rapidly.
Last year, Obama called on the country to “win the future” through
investments in infrastructure and education that would pay off in the
long term.
This year, Obama said, he will focus his speech on several sectors in
an effort to boost homegrown jobs at a time of 8.5 percent
unemployment: Those areas are manufacturing, energy and training for
workers.
In the video, the president said the themes he will discuss are part of the central mission of the nation.
“That’s rebuilding an economy where hard work pays off and
responsibility is rewarded — and an America where everybody gets a fair
shot, everyone does their fair share, and everybody plays by the same
set of rules,” Obama said.
He added that “we’ve got to meet this moment. And this speech is going to be about how we do it.”
With three days remaining until he speaks in the House chamber at 9
p.m. Tuesday, Obama said he has yet to finish writing his address, “so
there might be a few late nights between now and then.”

WE HAVE YOUR BACK MR PRESIDENT... GO GET-EM!

President Barack Obama ignored a warning from Republicans against proposing tax increases Monday and rolled out a plan to reduce the deficit consisting of a mix of spending cuts and revenue raisers in an combative speech designed to persuade the public to embrace a balanced approach to bringing down the nation's debt.

In remarks in the White House Rose Garden, Obama drew stark contrasts between Republican's penchant for backing "tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires" while requiring seniors, the middle class and the poor to tighten their belts and accept sacrifices.

"During this past decade, profligate spending in Washington, tax cuts into multi-millionaires and billionaires, and two wars have turned a record surplus into a massive deficit," Obama said. "If we don't act, the debt will eventually crowd out everything else, eventually affecting us from investing in things like education and Medicaid. We need to cut what we can't afford to pay for things we need."

Even before Obama delivered the speech, which clearly laid out the differences between both parties in the 2012 contest, Republican leaders were reacting angrily to early reports outlining the President's "go big" push, calling on Congress to cut deficits by $4 trillion over 12 years and institute automatic, across-the-board spending cuts and tax increases if a first target isn't reached by 2014.

Any reform plan must include revenue increases, he argued, because the tax system isn't fair, allowing billionaires such as Warren Buffett to have a lower tax rate than middle-class families.

"This plan eliminates tax loopholes that primarily go to the largest business and corporations--tax breaks that small businesses and middle class Americans don't have to pay," Obama said. "We can't afford these special lower rates for the wealthy, which by the way, were initially talked about as temporary measures."

"Either we have to ask the wealthy to pay their fair share, or we have to ask seniors to pay more for medicare, or gut education," he continued. "This is not class warfare. It's math."

Volunteers put up signs during a tour of U.S. President Barack Obama's re-election headquarters May 12, 2011 in Chicago.

A legion of 1,600 newly-recruited Democratic campaign volunteers, armed with Tweet-producing smartphones and a contagious spirit of enthusiasm, are fanning out across 40 states today to begin laying the groundwork for the reelection of President Barack Obama.

The forces -- college students, recent graduates, teachers, and retirees -- will work unpaid through August, aides say, to grow and re-energize Obama's grassroots volunteer network that had remarkable success in 2008, and gather troves of voter data in the process.

Obama campaign managers hope the effort will give the president something of a head start over his yet-to-be-determined Republican rival, in what is expected to be a tough campaign.

The operation kicked-off Saturday at boot-camp-style training sessions held jointly by the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee in conference rooms and community centers across the country.

ABC News received exclusive access to one of the two-day sessions held at DNC headquarters, where 15 volunteers received a briefing on campaign strategies and ground operations for the summer ahead.

"As summer organizers, we're the face of the president," Jenn Brown, a DNC staffer leading the training, told attendees. "So, whether it's here or in our lives, we represent the president 24 hours a day, and that's a really big responsibility we take on."

The office occupies a reported 50,000 square feet of the Prudential Plaza office building, one block south of Obama's 2008 campaign headquarters. Today the Obama campaign kicked-off "boot camp" training sessions for 1,600 newly-recruited community organizers who will be dispersed Monday across 40 states, working full-time unpaid through August to build out a grassroots volunteer network and gather voter data in the process. Over coffee and bagels, sub sandwiches and pizza -- which Brown called "the diet of an organizer" -- the recruits shared personal stories, flipped through glossy official instruction manuals and studied up on the Obama's first term with a game of "POTUS Accomplishments Jeopardy."

They also received the so-called "Rules of the Road." Colorful posters on the wall exhorted the new organizers to "Be on time," "Be positive," obey the "chain of command" -- and talk to the media? "No, no."

Campaign aides emphasized a goal of running a "different campaign" than 2008, but stressed the renewed importance of using personal relationships and one-on-one conversations to drive participation.

It's also clear they believe 2012 will be defined by Twitter.

"This summer is about trying new things and testing our organizing methods," said campaign spokeswoman Katie Hogan. "But these volunteers are not just guinea pigs; they will be having real conversations that are laying the groundwork."

One large sign hung from the conference room wall encouraging the volunteers to Tweet: "The Summer Organizers who write the best tweets will be re-tweeted by campaign leadership," it reads.

With 8.4 Million followers on Twitter, Obama has more than any other American politician. He added more than 162,000 in the last week alone.

Among those new campaign volunteers is Gloria, a middle-aged professional woman from Washington, DC, who is between jobs and wanted to give her summer to help Obama.

"I feel like a dorm mom here!" she exclaimed during introductions. "I missed the campaign in '08 when I was overseas working for the U.N., so I am really excited to help out this time."

Sam Polstein, 20, a junior at the University of Wisconsin, said he was inspired to become an organizer after witnessing the union protests in Madison earlier this year.

"It was kind of a big moment in my life," he said. "It didn't really inspire me to work toward some particular policy goal as much as it inspired me towards a motivation to work harder for families and workers in general." Many volunteers also seemed more inclined to blame Congress and
Republicans than the president for any shortcomings in reform
legislation related to education, immigration, and the environment. "It's not him [Obama], it's Congress," said Valentina Pereda, 22, who said she joined the organizing effort because of desire to see the DREAM Act enacted.

Campaign manager Jim Messina has said the campaign is going to keep metrics on everything the volunteers do. But aides have not revealed what those data points are.

As one campaign staffer at the training put it: "We have our data person who's going to come in and talk about the data, which obviously we're very militant about."

President Obama: GOP budget 'wrong for America'

President Obama continued his all-out assault on Rep. Paul Ryan and
House Republicans Saturday, blasting their 2012 budget proposal as
"wrong for America."

In his weekly radio address, Obama continued
the line of fiery rhetoric that he kicked off with an explosive speech
on debt reduction at George Washington University on Wednesday.Obama blasted Ryan's plan, which passed the House Friday with no Democratic votes in favor."It’s
a vision that says that in order to reduce the deficit, we have to end
Medicare as we know it, and make cuts to Medicaid that would leave
millions of seniors, poor children and Americans with disabilities
without the care they need," Obama said.

The president has also
gone all in with his goal of eliminating the Bush-era tax rates for the
wealthy, saying flatly in his address "we should end the tax cuts for
the wealthiest Americans, too."

"Because people like me don't need another tax cut," Obama said.

The
president is scheduled to take his new message, welcomed by Democrats
and infuriating to Republicans, across the country next week, making
stops in Virginia, California and Nevada.

The president called
reducing the debt "critical," but he blasted Republicans for taking what
he said is an unbalanced approach that proposes "drastic cuts" while
giving $1 trillion in tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans.

"I
don’t think that’s right," Obama said. "I don’t think it’s right to ask
seniors to pay thousands more for health care, or ask students to
postpone college, just so we don’t have to ask those who have prospered
so much in this land of opportunity to give back a little more."

PRESIDENT OBAMA, DITHERING OR THINKING IT THROUGH?

Five
years ago a young politician who seemed wise beyond his years was asked
by Tim Russert what makes a great president. It was the kind of
question that Russert, who could prompt more news in a single interview
than entire cable operations do in a year, was so good at.

The politician took a thought breath before proceeding: “Obviously,
most of the time it seems that the president has maybe 10 percent of his
agenda set by himself, and 90 percent of it set by circumstance.”

Barack Obama: meet your 90 percent. The senator who so accurately
predicted how events make the leader now finds himself a president
trying to lead through those events.

In the process, despite a largely incoherent chorus of
second-guessers, Obama has settled into a groove of reflective dithering
before making his decisions. For the most part, it has served him well.

Think back to … oh, all of one week ago. The mercenaries of Muammar
el-Qaddafi were closing in for the slaughter of people trying to take a
breath of the same Arab Spring air going around Tunisia and Egypt.

Had Obama done nothing, as the Dennis Kucinich fringe Democrats and
the Ron Paul isolationist Republicans would have it, the blood of many
civilians would be filling the streets of Benghazi. Don’t forget: the
regime had promised to chase its own citizens into closets and butcher
them.

Or, had Obama put U.S. troops on the ground, as the imperious former
Bush “diplomat” John Bolton insisted, a humanitarian mission would now
be seen as another superpower invasion of an oil-rich Arab nation.

In his deliberative fashion, Obama ultimately saved countless lives
in the short term, and will allow the rebels in Libya to own their
revolution in the long term, if they can push ahead — a big if, of
course. In the meantime, the economic and diplomatic noose will
tighten around Qaddafi and the people he pays to kill on his behalf.

What Obama wanted to avoid, as he discussed during that same Russert
interview, was the “messianic certainty” that led President George W.
Bush to start a disastrous, trillion-dollar occupation of Iraq. In
putting together an international coalition, backed by a United Nations
resolution and the Arab League — all in record time — Obama also pulled
off a nice bit of statecraft. And, had he used another day to reach out
to Congress, there would be much less criticism at home.

Still, Republicans can’t cope with a president who tries to think
before he leaps. Mitt Romney, who wakes most mornings in a groggy
scramble to find his principles, faults Obama for the nuance of his
Libya policy. How dare the president see shades of gray instead of
black and white!

Newt Gingrich first criticized Obama for not imposing a no-fly zone,
but now hits him for imposing a no-fly zone. You read that right. “I
would not have intervened,” Gingrich said a few days ago. This followed a
statement, barely two weeks ago, where he said he would intervene “this
evening.” And he now calls the air strikes over Libya the worst
foreign policy blunder in his lifetime.

Overstatement and misjudgment are Gingrich’s stock in trade — two
reasons why he’ll never be president. He can always be counted on to
fulminate on demand, with consistency the only casualty; the subject
doesn’t matter.

The real problem for Republicans is that they are perplexed over what
position to take on an issue that defies partisanship. So, Obama’s
least-thoughtful critics attack him for thinking.

Ponderous deliberation, which doesn’t sit well in an age when we all
move information with our thumbs, has been a hallmark of the Obama
presidency from the beginning. His 90 percent of circumstances started
on Inauguration Day, when Bush handed him the worse recession since the
Great Depression, and continued through an oil spill that nearly
poisoned an entire ecosystem.

During the spill, it was liberal cable pundits who wanted a president
who could shout, emote and point fingers. Instead, he quickly
negotiated a $20 billion escrow fund from BP that attempts to make whole
those hurt by the spill. Similar success followed with the auto
bailout, which saved General Motors, but cost Obama much of his early
political capital.

There are certainly inconsistencies in the Obama approach to Libya.
Why not help the protesters who are clubbed and jailed by our ally in
Bahrain? “Why invade Iraq and not North Korea or Burma?” Obama asked
in one of his books. “We can’t arbitrate a civil war,” he argued. As
president, those questions are no longer Hyde Park parlor debates.

A poll just published by Reuters/Ipsos
found 48 percent of respondents describing Obama’s military leadership
as “cautious and consultative.” Another 36 percent chose “indecisive
and dithering.”

I would argue that the combined 84 percent are basically saying the
same thing — that this president is anything but impulsive. And next
year, with an improving economy in a world where the United States is
held in much higher regard, most people will probably choose a
president who takes time to get it right, rather than one who is afraid
to dither for a good outcome.

BUYERS REMORSE IN OHIO AND ACROSS THE NATION. TEA PARTY CANDIDATES IN ACTION.

Just a few months into his first term, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R)
appears to be immensely unpopular with his constituents, a clear
majority of whom disapprove of his job performance, according to a PPP poll of registered voters. What's more, if a do-over election were held today Kasich would lose -- by a resounding 15-point margin.

Kasich barely defeated incumbent Gov. Ted Strickland (D) last
November, winning by a slim 49% to 47%. But if they could do it all over
again, 55% of voters now say they would vote for Strickland, while only 40% say they'd go with Kasich.

Kasich's short tenure has been marked by several mini-scandals,
including an incident last month when he called a police officer who
issued him a ticket an idiot -- three times, on camera. Then came the
contentious budget debate, when he forcefully pushed for a bill to strip
state employees of their collective bargaining rights. That bill goes
even further than the one recently passed in Wisconsin, which prompted
weeks of enormous protests and has sparked a recall petition for the state's republican senators.

Kasich's approval rating now appears to be deeply underwater. In the
poll, only 35% of respondents said they approve of his job performance,
while 54% sad they disapprove. In a University of Cincinnati poll
released Monday, 30% approved of Kasich's job performance, compared to
52% who disapproved.

If there was any doubt that Kasich's showdown with unions irked his
constituents, the PPP poll also addressed that issue, finding that
voters overwhelmingly sided with the unions.

Nearly six in ten said they supported the unions in the budget
battle, while 37% said they backed Kasich. And specifically, 54% said
they would support repealing S.B. 5 -- the union-busting budget bill --
if it comes up for a vote next fall.

The PPP poll was conducted March 10-13 among 559 voters. It has a margin of error of 4.1%.

Obama: U.S. Working With German Authorities To Investigate Attack On Military Bus

In a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room, President
Barack Obama said he was "saddened and outraged" about the attack that
took the lives of two Americans and wounded two others in Frankfurt,
Germany, on Wednesday and said the U.S. would "spare no effort" to find
out how the attack took place.

Two people were shot and killed
on a U.S. military bus at the Frankfurt Airport on Wednesday and two
others were wounded. The gunman was reportedly a 21-year-old Kosovo
national, authorities said.

Obama said American people were united in expressing their gratitude for the sacrifice of those who loss their lives.

"I want everybody to understand that we will spare no effort in
understanding how this act took place and working with the German
authorities to make sure that all of the perpetrators are brought to
justice," Obama said.

"We don't have all of the information yet, and you will be fully
briefed as we get more information, but it is a stark reminder of the
extraordinary sacrifices that our men and women are making all around
the world to keep us safe and the dangers they face all around the
globe."

Protests continued today at the state Capitol in Madison,
Wisconsin, against Republican Gov. Scott Walker's budget proposal
-- which in addition to requiring greater contributions from public
employees to their benefits packages, would also strip public employees
of most collective bargaining rights. And today, pro-Walker protesters
turned out, as well -- but were seriously outnumbered by the continued
throngs of pro-union demonstrators.

The pro-Walker Tea Party rally
featured something of all-star cast: Andrew Breitbart, Joe "The
Plumber" Wurzelbacher, Herman Cain and more. However, every estimate in
the media has shown that the pro-Walker demonstration was outnumbered
several times over by the pro-union demonstrators.

Reuters
reports: "Both sides drew thousands to the state capital Madison on
Saturday -- unofficial estimates put the total near 40,000 -- but
opponents appeared to have several times as many as those backed by Tea
Party groups, the first appearance by members of the conservative,
limited-government movement this week."

Separately, WisPolitics reports that the state Department of Administration has estimated 55,000
demonstrators -- 50,000 outside the Capitol, and 5,000 inside. They
also add: "This is the first day there has been a significant number of
people demonstrating in favor of Gov. Scott Walker's bill. The number of
bill supporters, however, was dwarfed by the massive throng of bill
opponents."

And amazingly, there have been no arrests or incidents
reported. So as a former Madison resident, I must say: Wisconsin is a
place where even the angry mobs are polite and friendly.

Wisconsin is currently in a political crisis, with the minority state
Senate Democrats having left the state in order to block the
three-fifths quorum necessary to pass the budget. In addition, many
schools have closed across the state, due to teachers calling in sick in
large numbers.

Under Walker's plan, as TPM has reported,
most state workers would no longer be able to negotiate for better
pensions or health benefits or anything other than higher salaries,
which couldn't rise at a quicker pace than the Consumer Price Index.
Walker and state Republican leaders have said the plan to limit the
collective bargaining rights of state employees is necessary to deal
with the state's budget shortfall.

The budget proposal includes other provisions to strip the public
employee unions of power, as well -- notably getting rid of the state's
process of automatically garnishing employees' wages to collect union
dues. According to the Associated Press:
"The proposal would effectively remove unions' right to negotiate in
any meaningful way. Local law enforcement and fire employees, as well as
state troopers and inspectors would be exempt."

As the Wisconsin State Journal
reports, the union leaders are saying they are willing to negotiate
with Walker on the financial concession regarding workers' contributions
to their benefits packages -- but they want the collective bargaining
and other anti-union provisions taken out. "We want to say loud and
clear -- it is not about those concessions," said Mary Bell, head of the
Wisconsin Education Association Council, in a conference call with
reporters. "For my members, it's about retaining a voice in their
professions."

But as the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
reports, Walker's office is insisting that he will not compromise on
the budget's provisions against union powers. And in a statement from
his spokesman Cullen Werwie, those same provisions are pitched as a
favor to the public employees themselves:

"Gov. Walker has repeatedly said that we won't negotiate the
budget and we can't balance the budget on a hope and a prayer," Werwie
said in the statement. "That remains true. State and local government
need the flexibility to manage this and future budget crises. In
addition, as government workers pay a modest amount toward their pension
and healthcare premium, about half the national average, it is fair to
give them the choice of additional savings on their union dues."

President Obama calls on business to do more to boost the U.S.

President Barack
Obama called on U.S. businesses on Saturday to do more to boost the
economy by hiring more workers and making investments.

The government has an
obligation to make the United States the best place to do business, by
providing the best schools, incentives to innovate and the best
infrastructure, he said, but added that businesses also have to do their
part.

"If we make America the best
place to do business, businesses should make their mark in America,"
Obama said in his weekly radio address. "They should set up shop here,
and hire our workers, and pay decent wages and invest in the future of
this nation. That's their obligation."

Obama
had difficult relations with the U.S. corporate community during much
of his first two years as president, as some businesses -- and the
powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce lobbying group -- balked at his
initiatives to revamp Wall Street regulation and overhaul the healthcare
industry and took umbrage at some of his sharp rhetoric on executive
pay.

But the White House sought to
mend relations of late, by toning down the presidential rhetoric and
making staffing choices that appeal to the corporate community, such as
making Bill Daley, formerly of JPMorgan Chase, the new White House chief
of staff.

Obama heads into the lion's den on Monday by making his first address to the members of the Chamber.

In the weekly address, Obama said he would tell the Chamber that government and business have mutual responsibilities.

"If we fulfill these obligations together, it benefits us all. Our workers will succeed. Our nation will prosper," he said.

With
the economy the central concern of U.S. voters, the White House has
been promoting its push to support businesses, and generate more jobs,
despite having its attention distracted by the crisis in Egypt.

Obama
has been traveling around the country to tout initiatives including a
program to increase the energy efficiency of commercial buildings and
another to expand access to high-speed wireless.

"All
we did for these companies was provide some tax credits and financing
opportunities. And that's what we want to do going forward," Obama said.

His
address aired the day after the Labor Department said U.S. employment
rose by only 36,000 jobs in January, far fewer than economists had
expected. But the jobless rate plummeted to 9.0 percent from 9.4 percent
in December.

"This week, we
received a report on jobs and unemployment that told us we're continuing
to move in the right direction," Obama said. "But we need to get there
faster."

President Obama Will Announce Budget Cuts of $1.1 Trillion over 10 years

President Obama on Monday will propose a 2012 federal budget that the
White House says will cut deficits by $1.1 trillion over 10 years.

The
president's request calls for a mix of strategic spending to boost U.S.
competitiveness and selective belt-tightening intended as a "down
payment" on serious deficit reduction, according to his budget director
Jacob Lew, who spoke on CNN's "State of the Union."

So
it's not clear yet where all of the estimated $1.1 trillion in deficit
reduction will come from, or exactly how significant a swipe it makes at
long-term deficit reduction.

But one chunk -- $400 billion in
savings -- would result from the president's call for a five-year freeze
on non-security discretionary spending.

Non-security domestic
spending only makes up about 10% of all federal spending. Deficit hawks
lament that both the White House and Republicans have focused all of
their attention in this area rather than address the country's big debt
drivers -- spending on the entitlement programs and defense.

Nevertheless,
this piece of the president's budget is certain to generate some of the
biggest outcry since it includes cuts to programs that Democrats
fiercely defend, such as heating assistance to low-income people.

Lew said it was a "very difficult" budget. "We have to make tough trade-offs."

For
instance, Obama's budget will boost the Pell Grant program to ensure
that 9 million students will be able to afford college, Lew said. But to
pay for those proposals, Obama will call for eliminating the grants for
summer school and limit their use to the regular school year.

He
will also propose that interest on federal loans for graduate students
accrue during school; currently, the interest tab doesn't start running
until after graduation.

The changes would save $9 billion in the first year, Lew told CNN's Candy Crowley.

0:00
/1:59State of the Economy (in 2 mins)Lew
defended the administration from turning its back on its own fiscal
commission, which in December proposed $4 trillion in cuts. He listed
three items that will appear in the budget that echo recommendations
from the commission: a call for corporate tax reform, changes to rein in
malpractice lawsuits against doctors and a freeze in pay on federal
workers.

Nevertheless, such proposals will not save a significant
amount of money relative to the deficits set to accrue. And from all
indications, the president's budget will not address key elements needed
to fix the major entitlement programs: Medicare, Medicaid and Social
Security.

Obama's budget request is essentially a blueprint of his
fiscal policy priorities -- the programs he would like to fund or cut,
the new investments he would make and how he would pay for it all.

Congress
can accept, reject or modify the president's budget. And Republicans
may well reject much of it out of hand, since its cuts are not nearly as
deep as many conservatives have been demanding.

PCA ACTION ALERTS

Organizers/Volunteers please refer to the Organizers page for new actions to be determined.

THE REAL NUMBERS-GOP BILLS!

5 Health Care Benefits To Act On Today!

Here are five actions each of us can take today, thanks to new benefits made available by the landmark Affordable Care Act.

1. Pick up the phone and schedule a free annual exam, and routine preventive tests for your age group (such as mammograms and colonoscopies). Under the ACA, preventive care is now free of charge or soon will be, without co-pays or deductibles. If you're on Medicare, these services were free as of Jan. 1. If you have private health insurance, they're either free now, or will be free at the start of your new health plan year. Check out more standard preventive services.

2. Insure yourself and all family members. Everyone is now eligible for health insurance. Having a pre-existing condition is no longer an excuse for insurance companies to deny coverage (can you believe how long our health care system has tried to exclude the sick?). If you have children under age 26, you can now insure them under your own plan. Your state should now offer a Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan, and if it doesn't, you can use the federal government's "PCIP." Check out healthcare.gov for options.

3. Log onto Healthcare.gov and get informed about the ACA, health insurance options, your health care rights and quality comparisons of your own local hospitals. I found the website refreshingly user-friendly and helpful. For example, its rankings of my own local hospitals seemed accurate and reflective of my opinions as a physician in the know.

4. Appeal the unfair decisions of your insurance company. Under the ACA, it's now illegal for health insurance companies to deny or cancel coverage, but they can still legally deny care. The ACA gives us new ways to appeal. Again, check out your options.

5. Consider going shopping. By choosing our health insurance carefully, we the people will determine which insurance companies survive, and which go out of business. Because the ACA leaves health insurance and health care in the free market, our choices will collectively shape the future of American health care.